US Markets Tumble And CME Bitcoin Futures Rise To The Occasion

While the “Safe Haven” narrative that was pushed by Bitcoin proponents, is well and truly disproved and forgotten, the contracts thereof are serving as a haven of a whole other sort.

The Great Scare Of 2020

COVID-19 has scared the global market into such a meltdown that an oil supply shock racked the world shortly after. On the 9th of March, 20202, both OPEC’s leader, Saudi Arabia, as well as Russia have clashed regarding the balancing of oil prices as the demand drops like a stone amid the coronavirus scare.

Oil prices took a historic drop, recording the lowest price since the Gulf War occurred back in 1991. US crude oil dropped a staggering 34% in one day, the total price dropping its lowest in almost three decades.

Price Drops Across The Board

Equity markets witness an overall pullback, as well, with the S&P 500 taking the most notable hit. While last week gave an impressive 7.4% surge, Monday saw a drop of 4.5% in one day, and recording drops as low as 2736 points. With the markets suffering a massive reduction in confidence, the confidence in the Government overall starts to fall as well. 10-year money markets within the US sustained a yield drop that left it at less than 0.5%. This is the first time this has happened in US history.

As one can easily conclude from this, both public and corporate sentiments have dropped like an anchor. Even Bitcoin, having been more or less “Uncorrelated” within the global market, has started to do a massive dump. The world’s top cryptocurrency has lost a staggering 14.3% of its value. The drop canceled a majority of the gains that 2020 had given it, with the price range being at around $7,920 at the time of publishing.

Profits From Others’ Loss

Despite all this, there is a silver lining within Bitcoin traders. A sort of “one man’s death is another’s bread” kind of situation, to be precise. The massive drop in BItcoin’s price caused a significant surge in volatility, and this volatility translated to a rekindling of the futures market. After weeks of trading being on the lower end of the scale, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) witnessed a massive burst in overall volume. A total of 11,281 BTC futures contracts started to pour out of the woodworks during the price fall on the 9th of March.

When one reviews February’s numbers, clocking in at an average daily volume of 5,137 contracts a day, the 9th of March gave a massive 119% increase in this number. However, while the volumes spiked, the amount of open interest witnessed an overall decline.